Report: Small Physician Practices Switching EMR Systems

Small physician practices are leaving their vendors at an unprecedented rate as electronic medical record (EMR) software systems have failed to meet rising expectations, according to a new report from Orem, Utah-based research company, KLAS research.

The main reasons providers are switching over to a new software system include poor service, product gaps, poor usability, and coding issues. Quick and easy implementations were the main reasons various vendors had succeeded in this segment.

"These practices are increasingly finding themselves in a quandary," Erik Bermudez, report author, said in a statement. "They have smaller budgets and smaller support staffs, yet they have the same functionality needs as the large organizations. This report helps providers look through the marketing hype to see what the real differences are between the products in this segment."

The report rates 27 different vendors in this market with the Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth ranking first for delivering on customers’ expectations, consistent, clean product enhancements, and high service levels. Below athenahealth is SRSsoft, Practice Fusion, CureMD, and Amazing Charts. At the bottom end of the scale is San Francisco-based McKesson, which suffered from declining service levels and poor product releases.

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